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| Ahmed Errachidi's unlikely voyage from London cook to Guantánamo Bay | Ahmed Errachidi's unlikely voyage from London cook to Guantánamo Bay |
| (2 months later) | |
| The US military in Guantánamo Bay called Ahmed Errachidi "The General": in London he was just a cook. His journey from one role to the other is a fascinating story. | The US military in Guantánamo Bay called Ahmed Errachidi "The General": in London he was just a cook. His journey from one role to the other is a fascinating story. |
| Errachidi came from Morocco to London as a tourist, liked it and stayed, working as a kitchen-hand and then as a cook. But by 2001 he had a family back in Tangier, and with a son suffering from a heart problem he needed a new way of making a living. He listened to other immigrants' stories of rich pickings in other countries, and decided to buy silver jewellery in Pakistan to sell in Morocco. So he made his way to Islamabad. | Errachidi came from Morocco to London as a tourist, liked it and stayed, working as a kitchen-hand and then as a cook. But by 2001 he had a family back in Tangier, and with a son suffering from a heart problem he needed a new way of making a living. He listened to other immigrants' stories of rich pickings in other countries, and decided to buy silver jewellery in Pakistan to sell in Morocco. So he made his way to Islamabad. |
| It was late September 2001 and the Pakistani television screens were full of images of refugees streaming out of Afghanistan to escape the bombing about to be let loose on their country. Errachidi was doubly lost: he didn't know how to start his business and he was sick with fear for his son. The pictures he saw filled him with horror and, perhaps to escape his own difficulties, he decided to do something to help. On impulse, and ignoring the danger he was heading into, he crossed into Afghanistan. | It was late September 2001 and the Pakistani television screens were full of images of refugees streaming out of Afghanistan to escape the bombing about to be let loose on their country. Errachidi was doubly lost: he didn't know how to start his business and he was sick with fear for his son. The pictures he saw filled him with horror and, perhaps to escape his own difficulties, he decided to do something to help. On impulse, and ignoring the danger he was heading into, he crossed into Afghanistan. |
| Almost as soon as he arrived he realised how little he knew of Afghanistan. He wanted to leave but, with the guide who had brought him across the border gone, he didn't know how. And so the man who had come to help refugees became one: in the chaos of bombing it took him more than three weeks to return to Pakistan. But when a car he was travelling in hit a pedestrian and the driver ran away, Errachidi and his companions were arrested. They were kept in a Pakistani prison, then sold in an airport lounge to the Americans, before going through the dreadful privation of the US-run Afghan camps to Guantánamo. | Almost as soon as he arrived he realised how little he knew of Afghanistan. He wanted to leave but, with the guide who had brought him across the border gone, he didn't know how. And so the man who had come to help refugees became one: in the chaos of bombing it took him more than three weeks to return to Pakistan. But when a car he was travelling in hit a pedestrian and the driver ran away, Errachidi and his companions were arrested. They were kept in a Pakistani prison, then sold in an airport lounge to the Americans, before going through the dreadful privation of the US-run Afghan camps to Guantánamo. |
| Errachidi spent five and a half years in Guantánamo. He was accused of having trained in an al-Qaida camp: his lawyers, when finally given this information, proved that, during the period in question, he had actually been working in London kitchens. Released without charge, he returned to Tangier where he lives with his family. | Errachidi spent five and a half years in Guantánamo. He was accused of having trained in an al-Qaida camp: his lawyers, when finally given this information, proved that, during the period in question, he had actually been working in London kitchens. Released without charge, he returned to Tangier where he lives with his family. |
| As an English speaker, Errachidi was in the Guantánamo front line. He could have stepped back and made his life easier, but in Guantánamo, he found in himself a capacity to organise others. That is why they named him "The General" and why he had such a hard time. His story is of a man caught in a Kafkaesque trap but also of a man, and the others with him, who, as powerless as they were, still found in themselves the spirit to resist. | As an English speaker, Errachidi was in the Guantánamo front line. He could have stepped back and made his life easier, but in Guantánamo, he found in himself a capacity to organise others. That is why they named him "The General" and why he had such a hard time. His story is of a man caught in a Kafkaesque trap but also of a man, and the others with him, who, as powerless as they were, still found in themselves the spirit to resist. |
| • This extract is no longer available as the copyright has expired. | • This extract is no longer available as the copyright has expired. |
| • The General: The Ordinary Man Who Challenged Guantánamo by Ahmed Errachidi, published by Chatto & Windus at £12.99. To order a copy for £10.59 with free UK p&p go to guardian.co.uk/bookshop or call 0330 333 6846 | • The General: The Ordinary Man Who Challenged Guantánamo by Ahmed Errachidi, published by Chatto & Windus at £12.99. To order a copy for £10.59 with free UK p&p go to guardian.co.uk/bookshop or call 0330 333 6846 |
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